Devotion (Four/Theo Eaton x OC) [COMPLETE]

Chapter 4: Friend or Foe?

One of the girls looked at it critically, "You call that a gun?"

Eric fired a dart into her leg and she slipped down to the floor in exclamations of pain. "Sim-dart," he said, walking over to the writhing girl and removing the dart from her leg with a sharp flick of his wrist. "Stimulates the pain of a real gunshot wound. Only lasts a couple of minutes." He then turned around as he surveyed the group, "Two teams. Four and I are captains."

"You pick first," Four said.

"Okay; Edward."

"I'll take the Stiff."

The girl Four had helped onto the train blushed. I guessed she'd expected to be picked last. After all, she had taken a bad beating recently and was near the bottom of the rankings.

Eric smirked, "Picking the weak ones so you'll have someone to blame when you lose."

"Something like that."

They continued choosing members until all the transfers were taken and the Dauntless-born remained.

"I'll take Swift."

My eyes lifted quickly from the floor when Eric said my name. I honestly hoped to be Four's next choice. After all, we'd been friends as long as we could remember. This wouldn't have been the only reason since capture the flag is about speed. The name 'Swift' wasn't given to me by chance. But, the apologetic look in Four's eyes told me it wasn't personal; Eric had just gotten to me first.

Without showing any emotion, I calmly walked over to Eric's side of the train car to join the others he had chosen. Their glares were full of suspicion, almost as if they expected me to betray the team before the game had even begun. Despite their wariness, Eric handed me a gun filled with sim-darts. Clearly, he trusted me enough not to instantly fire at him. I'll admit that the temptation was difficult to resist.

As we reached our destination, Four's team jumped off the moving train first. Eric's group waited in the cart.

"So what's the plan, Eric?" Stacey asked after she gave me another cold stare. A mark from where her head had hit the ground remained on her forehead and a bruise was on her cheek. She hadn't forgotten our scuffle and I doubted she ever would by the look of hatred in her eyes.

Eric paced the length of the car with his arms folded behind his back, "You will decide where to hide our flag and our strategy for capturing the other team's flag."

"Why don't we have Swift scout the area for the other team while we find a place to hide our flag?" one boy suggested. The others agreed quickly and I suddenly found myself outside the train in the cold night air. Great.

I ran through the abandoned section of the city until I came upon a group of crumbling buildings. The scene seemed like it was created from a nightmare, but I stopped a moment to listen to the sounds around me. From experience, I'd found that pausing a moment to observe a situation was more helpful than rushing into action.

A breeze whistled through the buildings and in it I heard distant voices that were carried with the wind. I climbed the brick wall of a fallen building and gained a vantage point to see where the sound was coming from. The voices were indistinct, but I noticed a small group of figures in the dark near an old Ferris wheel. I jumped down from the wall and quietly made my way closer to the group.

They seemed to be arguing over their strategy for the game when suddenly, a small piece of the group broke off to search the area. I dashed into the shadows for cover. After they passed, I hurdled myself over a fence and started to run back to Eric's team.

Behind me, there was a loud squeal created by scraping metal and a crash. When I stopped running to look back, the Ferris wheel turned and one of its carts had toppled to the ground. Something must have compromised its structure because the old thing hadn't functioned for at least a century.

I hadn't planned on telling Eric Four's exact whereabouts, but they would have seen the Ferris wheel by now. So, I told him where I had seen the group.

"That's all you found?" Eric scolded. "We saw the Ferris wheel from here, but you watched them from a few feet away and didn't find out their strategy?"

"Isn't the whole point of the exercise to develop your own strategy without knowing the other team's?" I crossed my arms over my chest. "I was sent to find their location, not spy on them."

He waved away the matter, so I took my chance to disappear into the shadows of the building and left them to defend the flag out in the open. I squatted on the ground with my back against the ruins of a wall as I checked the ammunition in my gun to make sure it was loaded properly. I noticed when leaving Four's group that they were heading in our direction to steal the flag. They should arrive soon. If I stayed hidden in the shadows, they'd never see my bullets coming.

A few moments passed when the other team suddenly appeared with whooping yells. I aimed for their legs and fired at a few people as they ran. Each of my targets dropped to the ground once they were hit. I crouched and rolled over my shoulders to relocate my station behind an exposed tube of ventilation. Behind me was the tower where our flag was hidden.

I popped up over the top of the vent and fired at more oncoming runners, crouching again once my bullets had discharged. I rolled back behind a different vent and prepared to fire at a dark figure. My finger lay on the trigger but refused to move. Why can't I shoot him? It's not a real bullet. It won't kill him.

Four's eyes met mine as he ran past. He spared me from the bullet just as I hadn't pulled my own trigger.

I crouched again and turned so I sat with my back against the side of the vent. My breaths came fast and hard. I hadn't realized how rapidly my heart was beating until the light of our flag appeared from waving it in victory at the balcony of the tower. Four had won.